Golf is a game on which much attention is directed to individual players"" training, swing analysis, and game statistics. This interest in analysis of a player""s performance has resulted in a great many products being introduced to aid in the analysis. For example, complex and expensive golf navigation systems have been developed to determine a player""s position on the golf course and the distance to the nominal pin position. These systems may report the player""s position to a central computer that can analyze various aspects of the golfer""s round. Other devices have on-board intelligence that automates the score keeping process. However, despite these and other capabilities, most golfers still count their strokes after a hole is completed, and record their score on a conventional paper scorecard. These conventional scorecards may have no pictorial information, or may include a rough pictorial representation of the layout of fairways, hazards and greens. However, they typically provide no way to record the position of shots on the golf course or any way to convert the graphical representation into distance and directional information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,077 requires the use of a portable data collection unit and position measuring equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,809 is typical of a golf course management system where each player (or group) carries a guidance device that not only reads out distance and direction to the hole, but reports the player""s position to a central location so that the speed of play can be managed by course officials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,485 provides an interactive graphic display with on-board intelligence which shows pictorial representations of a golf course and can provide recommendations of the club to use for the next shot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,537 provides a portable device that shows reference coordinates for specific golf course features, past player performance on that course may be downloaded to the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,044 uses a scoring sub-system for the entry of data and to display features of the golf course.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,157 provides a booklet with pictorial representatives of each hole and visible grid lines at, for example, specific yard intervals. The grid lines (and distance areas) are used as guidelines for club selection as the player executes the round. No provision is made for recording pin position. Different scales may be used for different holes. A film overlay is provided so that the position of each shot can be recorded and transferred xe2x80x9cmagnetically or in some other wayxe2x80x9d to a computer system for statistical analysis.
Pat. No. Re 36,346 provides a customized pictorial representation of each hole. A different character is written on the card to record the positions of successive shots. A special xe2x80x9creaderxe2x80x9d at the golf course is used to transfer the shot positions for subsequent analysis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,333 shows a portable device with graphic representations of a hole and a pointer to permit the player to input ball positions directly into the device.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention overcomes the deficiencies of prior art systems by providing a scoring booklet with photographic representations of the fairways, approaches and greens. Every position on the pictorial representation is related, through a geographic grid system, to its true relationship to other positions on the course. An enlarged graphic is used to increase the resolution of shot placement for greens. A golfer marks each shot position on the card, and in doing so is able to use landmarks on the course including trees, bunkers, yard markers and even sprinkler heads and drains to accurately place the ball on the card and thereby accurately relate the ball position to the underlying geographic grid system. The final ball position for the last shot (putt) determines the position of the pin for that day.
After completion of a round, and whenever the golfer has access to an internet enabled computer with a web browser and pointing device (e.g., mouse), the information about the round of golf can be uploaded to a website. The data is transferred by clicking through opening menus, to a page on which the selected hole of the selected course is displayed. The system preferably employs the same photograph as is utilized in the scoring booklet. In this way, the course is viewed from the same perspective as it was when the shot position was recorded. The ball position for each shot is transferred, including the ball position for the last shot for each hole (pin position).
After the complete game is entered, the golfer can compare the current round with previously entered rounds and is presented with statistical analysis such as average distance and accuracy for each club. The accuracy of putting data is enhanced by compiling all the pin position entries for all golfers on that day (the position of the ball on the green when it is in the cup) These are compiled to produce a best estimate of pin position on that day and therefore increase the accuracy of the information about all recorded shots from that day which are related to pin position, including approach shots and putts.